Cody and Barris: Small Steps
by shakespeareaddict
Summary: Cody thinks she thinks he's a fool. Barris thinks he's embarrassed by her. Only a crazy older Jedi, her dysfunctional unit, and an insane plan can bring them together. *ON HIATUS*
1. Headbanging

Chapter 1: Headbanging

* * *

Commander Cody of the 212th was not one to rush into things without regard for danger. He took things slowly and steadily, never moved without at least a second's consideration, and always planned things out first. But during a war, it did not always pay to be so cautious, and there were times when he did indeed run into trouble. Often it was to make sure General Kenobi survived, sometimes it was just that there was no time to think everything through; either way, his friend Rex of the 501st liked to joke that his own fast-paced fighting style was beginning to rub off on the commander.

Not for the first time, he wished Rex wasn't rubbing off on him.

This time, however, it wasn't running into what was no doubt a trap or taking refuge in a cave that was more than likely the nesting ground of some sort of man-eating carnivore that he was regretting. His mistake wasn't quite so obvious to an outside observer, and at first the choice hadn't seemed as dangerous as it really was.

There was a general named Sayn-Linn Swiftwater who was at the Kaliida Shoals medical center at the same time as General Kenobi and many members of the 212th. Cody had been there to make sure a minor injury of his was just that, and wouldn't progress any further, while General Swiftwater and the small 49th Defense Corps had arrived to drop off several of its members, all of whom were severely injured. Among the injured was Captain Zach, who had jumped on a bomb in a valiant attempt to save his brothers, and there was no question that he would be stuck in a bacta tank for several days at least due to his heroics.

The problem was, the 49th was needed immediately on the other side of the galaxy, and General Swiftwater was still missing her captain. So she had come to General Kenobi to ask for advice.

That was the point where Cody walked in. Upon hearing her plight, he had offered to fill in for the semi-famous captain. Kenobi agreed, and within the next half hour Cody was on board the _Iron Will_. The 212th and 49th had worked together before, and he thought it wouldn't be a problem for him to lead them until Zach was on his feet again.

But he'd forgotten the most important thing about General Swiftwater: she never told anyone everything, often withholding entire battle plans until the engagement had been won or lost. So now she was in the mess with all twenty-two non-injured members of her unit, explaining to them why Commander Cody was going to be with them. Cody himself was right outside the doors, repeatedly bashing his head against the wall for assuming everything would be alright if he just offered to fill in for the injured captain. He had been listening to the conversation for awhile and gathered that not many of the men liked having him "invade our Corps", when General Swiftwater mentioned that for this mission she was going to split the Corps up and have one Force-user to each group. The commander assumed she was referring to herself and her Padawan until she went on to say "and since I can only trust Lieutenant Bluebird and Captain Zach to listen to Commander Offee 100% of the time, and I know Commander Cody will do the same now that Zach is stuck in a bacta tank for the next few days, I decided that it would be best for the sake of the mission to accept his generous offer and have him help us out."

There had been a sudden flare of objections, but Cody had barely registered anything she had said after "Commander Offee." Commander Offee was Barriss Offee. He had worked with Barriss a few times before, and each time he had trouble speaking without babbling like a fool.

_Oh, crap, am I screwed_, he had thought.

And then he started the head-banging.

He tuned back into the argument after the headache cleared, though he had missed quite a bit of it while he was killing brain cells. Now one of the troopers was trying to say that Lieutenant Bluebird could look after the Padawan.

Swiftwater cut him off. "I still need a commanding officer in both groups, regardless of specific rank. And whoever ends up with my unit needs to be someone I have fought with enough to trust whole-heartedly if something happens to me. Now I'm not saying Cody is a bad leader or a terrible fighter, but I've worked with Bluebird more often and would rather have her at my back."

If Bluebird was with General Swiftwater, the only officer left to watch after Barriss was Cody. And if he was the only officer, and the 49th were as terrible at listening to the Padawan as Swiftwater claimed, he'd have to talk to her almost constantly.

His head said hello to the wall one more time.

* * *

When Swiftwater had finished explaining why they needed Cody and everyone but herself had wandered out of the mess, Cody came to see if he could inconspicuously weasel out what Barriss—Commander Offee, he corrected himself—was doing here. She was General Unduli's Padawan, while Swiftwater's apprentice was a male Zabrak named Mykolas.

Just as he was about to greet her and begin his subtle probing, she asked without turning around, "Are you already missing the 212th? I mean, I know my guys can be harsh, but Zach's kind of an older brother to them, and they just don't like the idea of someone taking his place."

Startled, Cody asked, "Wha?"

The Jedi did turn at this, giving him a slight smile. She was fairly comely, about his height or perhaps taller, with gold-blond hair cropped short and intelligent green eyes. "I'm sorry about what my men said back there. Most of them are just worried about Zach, and most of the rest are jerks, so you shouldn't take any of their complaints personally."

"How did you…?"

She rolled those green eyes and jumped off the table she had been sitting on. "I could sense your frustration from ten clicks away if I tried hard enough. You're regretting your decision to come here, and it's hardly been an hour. I just want to apologize for my men, being all jerk-y."

He was about to tell her that it wasn't her fault he was upset when Barriss walked in.

"Master Swiftwater, I have the maps you requested right here," she said, handing the woman a datastick.

"Thank you, Barriss. Oh, have you met Commander Cody?"

She turned and saw him, her face suddenly blushing to an interesting shade of green. "Hello, Commander. I...didn't know you were assigned to this mission, too."

Cody tried to think of something to say. "Hi, Commander Offee." He blushed, too, wishing he was closer to a wall.

"I can explain," cut in a grinning Swiftwater. "You know how Zach was hit by that bomb yesterday? Well, it turns out Master Obi-Wan was also at the medical center, so I went to ask his advice when Cody came in and, long story short, he offered to fill in for Zach until the doctors let him out."

Barriss nodded. "It was kind of you to volunteer." She inspected something on the far side of the room.

"Thanks. I-I didn't know you were here either." His mind was as sluggish as a Hutt. She probably thought he was an idiot.

"Master Swiftwater and Master Unduli sort of traded Padawans," she explained quietly, now looking at her boots.

There was an increasingly awkward pause, which a still-smiling Sayn-Linn finally broke. "Well, we'll be in the Cerea system in a few hours. You should both get some rest. I doubt Master Ki-Adi-Mundi will appreciate us falling asleep as soon as we land on the planet."

Both agreed to this and left the mess quickly. As soon as he was in his barracks, Cody couldn't help but give himself a few good face palms before trying to sleep.

* * *

A few notes:

I don't own Star Wars, or Barris, or Cody. I do own my computer, the 49th Defense Corps, and Sayn-Linn, as well as her Padawan.  
This is my first official fanfiction. HOORAY! I wrote this because Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 invited me to be a staff member for her community, and I thought I should write some actual Cody/Barris fanfic.  
This story will switch from Cody to Barris's POV, with possible blurbs from Sayn-Linn, other members of the 49th, and Lieutenant Bluebird.

You'll meet the 49th unit in pieces, when they're relevant to the plot or I just want to make you laugh. Eventually they'll get their own story, which will probably take place before this fanfic. I'll put in chapters when I can, or when inspiration hits. Any suggestions are appreciated!

Till next time,  
shakespeareaddict


	2. Flashbacks and Girl Talk

Chapter 2: Flashbacks and Girl Talk

* * *

Barris had long given up trying to sleep. At first she had tried to sleep on her back, the way she usually did, but it just seemed too rigid a position this time. She had turned onto her stomach, which gave her a stomachache, and then either side, but both ways felt so awkward that she couldn't fathom getting any rest in either position. Then she tried to perform some mind-clearing techniques, yet they didn't do much to clear her mind. Every time she thought she could sleep, she would remember Master Swiftwater telling her to get some rest, and that would remind her of how quickly Commander Cody had fled the mess hall.

And then she could practically see her peace of mind heading for the hills.

It wasn't like her to be so…so…"distracted" was really the only word to describe it. Usually she was so focused and driven, the way her master taught her to be, but now, she was absolutely a mess.

It had to the unit, she told herself. Everyone knew the 49th Defense Corps was a little oddball, a bit on the weird end. Not nearly as…interesting as the 666th, but still not exactly normal. Yes, it had to be the unit. Maybe she'd been spending too much time around Demo, who was certainly a mess and certainly insane.

Oh, she wasn't even fooling herself. The most contact she'd had with Demo was watching a poker game with him in the lounge. In fact, she wasn't even that distracted until a few hours ago, when she went to deliver a few maps to Master Swiftwater and found out Commander Cody….

Commander Cody…?

"Oh, Force."

* * *

She remembered the first time she had met him. It was an unexpected mission, really, because of all the Jedi in the Order no one would have thought Master Kenobi and his troops could be scattered across an entire planet. There had been an impressive space battle involving not just Master Kenobi and the 212th but also Master Skywalker and the 501st—and his Padawan, Ahsoka, of course. Then the reactor on Kenobi's ship had been hit, and the evacuation order had been sent out. Unfortunately it seemed the guidance systems for the escape pods had been going through a routine reboot, and the best the clones could do was guide them to a crash-landing on the planet below. Some hadn't made it; the rest were more or less stranded.

That was where the 41st Elite Corps came in. Their objective was to track down the members of the 212th and then commence a rescue. Barris and Master Unduli had naturally been sent with them, and when Skywalker's own fleet finished the battle they had aided in the mission. As soon as Ahsoka was free to begin searching, she met up with Barris, and they used the Force to find the lost unit.

It had been a few tiring hours of hiking and hoping to run into the presence of any of the survivors when Ahsoka decided to make it a game. They were on the jungle planet Teth, a humid and harsh environment which should have worn down even Ahsoka's seemingly endless energy, but it hadn't put much of a damper on her spirits. Barris was uncomfortable in the traditional Mirialan robes that hung heavily around her ankles, and couldn't fathom how Ahsoka could be so nonchalant.

Ahsoka had suddenly paused in the middle of clambering over a fallen tree and tilted her head to one side. "Do you feel that?"

Barris had focused until she did, indeed, feel it. "It's a soldier, but…what is he doing all alone?"

"Not just any clone," the Togruta had proclaimed triumphantly. "It's Commander Cody. He probably left his pod to go look for help. I bet he knows where Master Kenobi is!"

Her companion sighed in relief. Finally, they could find out what had happened to the Jedi Master. "Let's go find this Commander Cody, then."

"Wait," Ahsoka had said, adopting a sly grin. "What do you say to a little bet? Whoever finds Cody first gets to eat the loser's dessert tonight."

"I suppose…."

And before Barris had finished, there was a streak of red in the direction of the commander. Had anyone been watching they would have then seen a green blur dressed in heavy robes pursue the streak, shouting, "Hey, no fair! Ahsoka!"

Barris raced to find the commander, more for the joy of the competition than the thought of having Ahsoka's pudding. Usually it was gritty and tasteless anyway. But then again, the 41st _had_ just made a stop to refuel and get fresh supplies, which almost invariably meant the pudding would be smooth and rich and very delicious.

So Barris then decided to even out the odds a bit. If Ahsoka had a head start, there was no reason she couldn't give herself a small edge. Following this logic, the older Padawan waited until she was close to her friend and then executed a brilliant jump that sent her far ahead of the other girl.

"Hey, that's cheating! You can't Force-jump ahead of me!"

Barris had turned and ran backwards, laughing at the expression on Ahsoka's face. "Perhaps next time you shouldn't give yourself a head-start! Looks like I'm get—"

And then she'd tripped, slammed into something very hard, and fallen on her face in the mud. The something she'd slammed into gave out a muffled cry that sounded like "Ooff!" and then what sounded suspiciously like a few choice swear words, but she hadn't been able to tell. Instead, she was a bit busy trying to pull herself up and get a good look at whatever or whoever she had inadvertently slipped into.

White armor. The piece that covered the abdomen, to be specific, and naturally the breastplate as well, which had a few streaks of yellow on it. That was all she saw at first, and then she had looked up to see his face.

It shouldn't have been a surprise to her. There were well over a million clones in the army, and Barris had been in the war since the First Battle of Geonosis, so one would think she wouldn't be shocked by the face of a clone. Strangely enough, this time she was. He had the same sharp nose that curled at the nostrils when he grimaced, the same black hair cropped to standard military length, the same broad forehead as his brothers. The biggest difference was the misshapen scar that seemed to form a lopsided triangle with one eyebrow before forming a sideways C just about his left temple. It was intriguing, really, and such a bizarre shape that one had to wonder what in the world had given it to him.

Then, as if that hadn't been enough to catch her attention, that was when she had looked into his eyes.

Clones didn't always have quite the same eye color. All of them had brown eyes, but in some it was hazel, others an unattractive muddy color, and in a few a rich caramel. His were none of these, but instead a deep shade of dark chocolate. She had never seen anyone with eyes that color, regardless of species or age.

Entranced, she had watched a score of emotions flicker on his face. Annoyance at first, then confusion, then vague recognition as he took in the lightsaber strapped to her waist. And then pure embarrassment, not the kind which turned one's face red but more of the sort that did slightly tinge one's skin pink.

_What's so embarrassing?_ she had wondered, probably looking a bit flabbergasted herself. It was then that she remembered tripping into him and the mud all over her face.

A little-known fact is that Mirialans don't turn red with humiliation. At that moment, Barris had been proof enough of that. She had instead turned a most unattractive shade of purple.

* * *

Things hadn't gotten much better from there, even when the two had wiped most of the mud off of her face and his armor and Ahsoka introduced them and assured Barris she had won the pudding and the clone had said he knew exactly where Kenobi was. Even finding Master Kenobi just in time for a transport to pick him up and save his life hadn't been enough to lift her out of her gloomy, mortified haze. At least her face had regained a semi-normal color, which made it harder for Commander Cody to sense her discomfort.

Ahsoka, being her best friend, could unfortunately pick up on her unease from at least three klicks away. One might think this would mean she would_ not_ have asked Cody to search with them when he was clearly the source of her friend's humiliation, and one would be horribly wrong.

On the swiftly dwindling plus side, the pudding had indeed been delicious, Barris had more or less helped save the life of the most famous Jedi Master besides Yoda, and Co—the commander had cordially declined the Togruta's offer to join them. In the case of the latter, sadly, she couldn't help but think the commander was embarrassed by her tripping into him, and as soon as they were alone Ahsoka began pressuring her about her "bumping into Cody".

If first impression were everything, she had most certainly failed this one.

* * *

"But that was all in the past," she whispered to herself. Commander Cody couldn't really still be that upset by the whole falling-on-your-butt-in-the-mud thing. Could he?

She was interrupted from this train of thought by some shouting outside. The door opened up with a whoosh and the first of Barris's temporary roommates stormed in.

"I don't believe it! Would it kill them to even give us the vaguest hint about what kind of crisis we're supposed to be flying into? I mean, come on! They tell us we're needed immediately across the galaxy, ask us to fly to Cerea, land at midnight, then immediately take a two-hour hike to a 'secret landing pad' so we can be ferried to a base that's supposed to be a myth, from which we'll directly be taken to wherever the kriff this mission is going to happen, and they don't bother to at least mention how long it'll take to get to this base! This has got to be the most fiefekarking, convoluted, inconvenient waste of time in the history of the whole karking Republic!"

"Hello, Bluebird," Barris called halfheartedly. The Lieutenant was one of a handful of female clones, with chin-length black hair, a thin, feline face, and piercing almond eyes as well as very colorful language when she was pissed off.

She halted in her pacing and quickly snapped off a salute. "Sorry, Commander, if I disrupted anything, and sorry for the language. I just received word that when we land on Cerea, we're hiking to a landing pad and being taken to the famed Evanescent Base. I suppose I'm just a little upset at how certain government officials neglected to tell us this until a moment ago, sir."

Barris waved away the apologies before it hit her. "Evanescent Base? The one that changes location on practically a weekly basis? Isn't that a myth?"

The clone shrugged and headed to her bed, pulling out one of many vibroblades on her belt. "Evidently not. But that's enough about the 'mystery mission'. You sound pretty down, sir. Is everything okay?" She began absentmindedly flipping the knife in her hand, tossing it up in any number of tricks.

"No, thank you, Lieutenant, I'm just having trouble sleeping. I was trying to meditate when you came in."

Her roommate colored quickly. "Sorry, sir. I had no idea you were meditating. If I had known—"

"No, it's alright. I wasn't doing a very good job of meditating anyway." She sighed. "I was actually thinking about Cody…"

"So someone has the hots for the commander?" joked Bluebird. She laughed at the Padawan's face. "Don't worry, sir, I'm just kidding. But just between you and me"—she leaned closer and lowered her voice, no longer fiddling with the knife—"I think his scar is hot."

"A scar can be hot?" Barris was clearly flabbergasted.

Her companion shrugged. "Of course it can. And his scar is very, very attractive. It really brings out his eyes. I just _love_ it."

Now Barris was horrified. Lieutenant Bluebird was never distracted and seemed to always dismiss dating as a waste of time. How could she go on about how hot one of her _own brothers_ was, even if she was made of completely different genes from them?

"It's not that I'd even think about going out with him," she added quickly. Force, but sometimes she could practically read minds. "It's just a bit of girl talk."

"Girl talk?" asked Barris.

"You know, it's useless poodo normal girls always gush over, like proms and makeup and the latest in fashion and whether or not some guy is cute. I know neither of us are exactly 'normal', but that doesn't mean we can't have a little girl talk every now and again." She winked clandestinely at her.

Barris considered this, and then nodded. It made sense; why couldn't they get a chance to act normal every now and again?

"So," began Bluebird again. "What do you think about Commander Cody's scar?"

After a long moment, the Mirialan admitted, "I suppose it does bring out his eyes nicely."

* * *

Well, here it is. My second chapter! Yay! I had no idea how many people would like this story.

Internet cookies to all my reviewers! Extras go to:  
darthritter86, for the constructive critisism  
enteryournamehere5 and Edward's Forever Lover, for reading this even though I know you guys don't like Star Wars  
Aurora Lunar 0Love This0, for inspiring the story as well as Barris's flashback  
natcat13, for the idea for the mission (which will begin-ish soon)  
and an honorary cookie to Queen, for being the first person I've seen to give out internet cookies

A quick message to CaptainKale: my computer's being stupid, so I can't figure out how to respond to your message, but if you send me a short review I should be able to do it.

Feel free to review, provide suggestions, give ideas, or just ask questions. Happy Turkey Day! Sorry this took so long!


	3. Top Ten

Top Ten

* * *

Commander Cody's Top Ten Reasons Not to Start a Two-Hour Hike at Midnight  
1)Everyone is exhausted and half-dead on their feet. In fact the only people who are remotely awake are the Jedi, but even they seem pretty down.  
2)There is no caf, so you have no chance of waking up _that_ way.  
3)Even though there are two full moons out, there are so many clouds it's impossible to make anything out clearly.  
4)Because it's so dark, and you're so tired, you don't see the tree roots sticking out of the ground even when they're right in front of you.  
5)So of course you trip over one of these roots, hit your head on a low-lying branch, and start falling.  
6)Then you land on the Padawan.  
7)The worst part about landing on the Padawan is that she already thinks you're an idiot, mostly for smashing into her the first time you met, and now that you did it again she'll definitely lose any respect she might have had for you before.  
8)The second-worst part is that you make a complete fool of yourself in front of the unit, and it was going to be hard enough to make them listen to you earlier but now they're all snickering at you and making snide remarks and there's no way they're gonna stop any time soon.  
9)Then, and only then, do the moons decide to come out, and then you realize how pretty Commander Offee looks in the moonlight. Simultaneously you figure out your helmet has come off and that everyone, from the commander to the general to the lieutenant to the rest of the unit, can see you've turned as bright a red as a Sith's lightsaber.  
10)And when the whole two hours of stupid jokes, plodding feet, and stumbling are all done and you can lie down and sleep, you're twice as tired and twice as weary as when you started, only now you're wide awake.

Cody gave up on sleep after the first half-hour of tossing and turning in the bunk. Half of the Corps was in the same room as him, a narrow, windowless chamber with bunks built three high right in the wall. The beds, little more than thin mattresses, smelled like sweat, the walkway below was too thin for two men to walk side-by-side, the lights flickered if they were turned on, and both the emergency lights and night lights were broken, plunging the room in complete darkness. Of course, that was the way the barracks usually were on small Temporary Unit Transport Starships, so it wasn't really that much of a surprise to find all these less-than-pleasant conditions there.

In fact, it was actually better in comparison to some TUTS. The whole room could've smelled like something died in there, there might've been rats, the floor might have creaked, and the lights could have not turned on at all. So in a way, things were a lot more agreeable than they could have been. But the fact remained that everyone was very ripe from the hike, the room itself was freezing, and Cody still had mud caked into the seams of his armor from his tumble.

As long as he was up, Cody saw no reason to just lie there until it was time to leave for whatever mission they were to receive. No one was quite certain what it was, unless of course someone had told General Swiftwater what was going on and she decided to withhold the truth. But while she was well-known for rarely giving entirely explicit information, the general was not one to put her men in unnecessary danger, directly or indirectly.

So he swung himself out of bed, hitting the floor with a dull _clunk_. One of his brothers—Cap, the pilot, or so the commander believed—stirred, let out a huge yawn, and turned over with a few mumbled words that sounded vaguely like "that's the thruster, Twaurra, not the trigger." Ignoring the movement, Cody tiptoed to the door and headed for the gym.

He walked past the rec room, stopped, and turned back. There was a light showing through the door. Instinct kicked in immediately; he pressed to the side of the door and peered into the room. It was just a brother, thank goodness, leaned over a flickering holoscreen. The commander chided himself for overreacting—he hadn't been getting nearly enough sleep lately and was at this point mostly running on adrenaline, but that was no excuse for jumping at a light as if it was automatically an enemy.

The clone must have made some sort of audible sound, because the brother inside turned and called, "Who's there?"

Cody stepped inside, prompting the trooper to give off a small salute. He was in his armor, probably too tired to change out when they got onboard the ship, and the armor was decorated mostly in the orange-yellow color of the 49th. On the chest piece stood a battered red cross enclosed in a circle, the symbol the unit's medics all wore to easily identify each other. His face was pretty much the same as any other trooper's, with no scars or wildly colored hair, and pretty much the only thing that distinguished him from Cody (minus Cody's own scar, naturally) was a mustache.

Darn it. Most of the 49th were wilder in appearance and easier to remember, more or less, but the medics always seemed to blend into one. Cody wasn't even sure he knew all their names, since he hadn't really talked to them beyond "How long until I can fight again?" and "Will he survive?" and "I don't need another shot, I'm perfectly fine!" So, as embarrassing as it was, he was going to have to guess the medic's name.

"You're…Patch-up, aren't you?"

The medic smiled. "Just Patch, sir." He pointed to his arm. "You can tell by the 'patch' of yellow right here. It's the only place I've got a scar. Alf, on the other hand, has lost part of his right ear, and Needle has a needle painted on his shoulder bell."

Cody nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Patch." _Well, at least I know three of their names,_ he thought, trying not to think of all the other brothers whose names he'd have to eventually learn. "What are you watching?"

"Some Coruscant news station. They're giving coverage of the Battle of Zaadja. Making all sorts of claims about how the only casualty on the Republic's side was a General Tohno and a few troopers."

Cody found himself shaking his head before the medic finished. "There were plenty of other casualties. General Tohno's loss might've been significant, but she was not the only one who died. Several hundred men were lost, and good men, too."

Patch shrugged nonchalantly and flipped through a few channels. "Coruscant usually gets it wrong. That's why I like to watch Siflee news. They do their research on Siflee." He finally settled on a station with an old holoshow on, a fictional medical program from the looks of it.

"Siflee? You mean that miniscule planet in the Naboo system?"

"Yeah, we were there about a year ago with the 501st. Planet was under Separatist occupation until we came. But I remember there was one reporter who wrote an article about us in the papers, and it was just so accurate….So I started paying attention to all the news they showed or published, and it turned out everyone there does their best to keep the facts straight. The only reason I'm not watching it now is 'cause we're too far away for the signal to reach here or something like that. What are you doing up, Commander?"

"Couldn't sleep," he explained quickly.

"Would it have anything to do with your little spill, or are you just running on adrenaline and can't sleep because of that?"

"Adrenaline, I think." It wasn't entirely a lie, but it wasn't exactly the whole truth, either.

His brother sighed heavily and sat down. "Commander, I know how hard it is to be shuttled off to another unit and just be expected to do your job while you're surrounded by strangers. It's happened to me a couple times. And I also know that the men aren't going to make it easy for you. Why? Well, other than the fact that most of them usually act childish when off-duty, back when the 49th was first deployed, we all made a pact with each other that no one from out-of-unit would ever take the place of Captain Zach or anyone who followed him, that all our leaders would be 49th born and bred. Obviously, more men came to the unit, and as a matter of fact I think only half of the troopers in here now are part of the original group that went to Geonosis, if that. But everyone who ended up here made the same oath, and while we all know you're not going to replace Zach, there are a couple guys who feel as if you are kind of invading the Corps, so you can expect them to give you a hard time. Is it stupid, petty, ridiculous, and unfair to you when you're clearly just trying to help us? Yeah, but I'm afraid that's the 49th for you. The stories I could tell about this would fill three encyclopedias and then spill over into the index. Now, since I'm a doctor and I don't like it when men lack respect for those above them (and believe me, that happens to me often enough), I can promise that I will gladly help you with anything you might need assistance with. Card games, making the men listen, problems with Commander Offee, you name it."

The mention of Commander Offee threw Cody off completely, and prompted him to respond with a very intelligent-sounding utterance of "Wha?"

"I'll help you with anything you need, Commander, that's all. For example, say Tip-Tap was trying to show off his flamenco dancing and instead landed in a pit of quicksand."

"No, I wasn't asking about you helping me out, I was wondering—what did you mean by problems with Commander Offee?"

Patch shrugged. "If Captain Zach and General Swiftwater are anything to judge by, commanding officers usually, if not always, argue with each other. And that's not a bad thing, at least not the way they do it, but every now and then it's better to compromise rather than to keep fighting and risk endangering men's lives, and I can help with that. And, of course, she is a girl."

All Patch's explanations were doing was restating things Cody already understood and further confuse him about the rest. "I'm sorry, Patch, but I still don't understand what that means."

"Well, I'm a doctor, first of all, and I've worked with General Swiftwater and Lieutenant Bluebird for most of the war, and both of them are women, and finally I don't think you've had much long-term experience with women without another officer above you to take care of…issues. So there will obviously come a time when I'll have to take care of a problem she has that you will have no idea how to handle."

"And that problem would be…."

"Sir, I've done my best to remain discrete about it because it's not the kind of thing most men like to discuss."

"You don't mean…."

"Yes, I mean that problem."

He just stood there for a moment, trying to absorb this.

The doctor chuckled at the look on Cody's face. "Well, sir, I'm pretty sure that when we get to Evanescent Base they'll want to see the commanding officers first before waking up the rest of us. I've got a couple mild sedatives that should be enough to put you under, and your own exhaustion should keep you asleep, if you'd be alright with it."

Cody accepted, and the doctor gave him the sedative. As he walked away, he thought he heard Patch say something, but it was probably just his imagination.

* * *

If Patch was only right about one thing, it was about waking up the commanding officers first. What really stank about this was that Cody had finally gotten some real sleep for the first time in a long time. On the other hand, Evanescent Base was perhaps the coolest base he had seen in an even longer time.

Why? Well, first of all, it was a giant flying fish.

Of course, it wasn't actually a fish, because most fish have trouble surviving long in most atmospheres, let alone the vacuum of space. But it was shaped like a fish, right down to the fins and bulging eyes. The deflector shields even bore the shape of giant scales over the hull, or so claimed their guide through the base when they landed in the humongous hangar (located right in the "belly" of the fish).

The second-most amazing thing—it even _moved_ like a fish.

The tail was carefully segmented all over, allowing for broad sweeps back and forth in the blackness. Since it was a vacuum, the swishing tail was more of a decoration, but each movement was aided by the powerful engines so that the energy used for the sways was not a flippant waste. Overly extravagant, perhaps, but not completely useless.

As their guide claimed, the fins could also move, which seemed to be nothing more than a bunch of poodoo, but Cody let the matter pass. He also said that the bridge was actually two rooms, one in each eye, connected by a sort of central command center open on each side and a war room behind it, which sounded more plausible to the battle-hardened commander, but still a little far-fetched.

Sadly, he never got a chance to find out if either of these were true, because the trooper led them directly to the war room from the back. But in all fairness it probably was for the best, considering the state the group was in as a whole. General Swiftwater was attentive yet clearly sleepy-eyed, taking in everything with an interest which was far more detached than what Cody understood to be normal, Lieutenant Bluebird was trying to keep from yawning until she saw their guide (at which point she suddenly straightened and paid close attention to everything he said, but still stumbled from lack of sleep every now and again), and despite the fact that she was probably drawing energy from the Force Commander Offee was also trying hard to stay awake. Commander Cody himself was doing a pretty good job of hiding his exhaustion, or at least he thought he was, but in the back of his mind he kept on remembering the fact that he had been running on no more than six or seven hours of sleep over the last three days, which wasn't helping his non-tired charade much. It also made him irritable and grumpy, two things he didn't like being.

On the way up to the bridge, Cody did make what he thought was a good attempt at conversation with the trooper, but it didn't work out quite as well as he hoped.

It started with him remarking casually, "Maybe it's just me, but Evanescent Base seems more like a ship than a base."

The trooper raised an eyebrow at the comment. He was dressed in fatigues instead of armor, more like a bridge officer than a regular trooper but without gloves, and at one point or another he had rolled up his sleeves to the elbow, revealing well-muscled forearms and a few tattoos. For most of the time he had been looking at and chattering with the lieutenant, and now the superior officer got a good look at his face—same as all clones', really, save for three things: 1) his eyes, which were a brilliant sunset-orange from some unfathomable defect, 2) a shrapnel scar on his right cheek, and 3) hair dyed with streaks of red which seemed to be color-coordinated with his eyes. There was a small spark of annoyance in those freaky eyes, and he made a small effort at trying to suppress it, but it didn't work.

"It has to be like a ship," he explained, that bit of annoyance quietly through to his voice. "We can't stay for long in any system, so _obviously_ we need to be able to move a lot faster than some lumbering beast like the Kaliida Shoals med-center."

The commander readjusted his hold on his helmet, trying to think of a way to answer that without sounding stupid again. "Well, _obviously_ I didn't think of that, trooper, because I'm a bit tired right now. Sorry I couldn't figure out what was so _obvious_ to someone who's not as sleep-deprived as I am."

The trooper bristled at some insult his superior had unknowingly uttered. "Sir, I am not some regular trooper. I am CT 75-8943, aka _Sergeant_ Orange, and I do not appreciate being referred to like I'm just another meatcan."

Suddenly Cody stopped, reaching out to prevent Sergeant Orange from moving as well. "I don't like you're tone, _trooper_."

"And what are you gonna do about it, _Commander_? Huh? You wanna start a fight?"

There was a tense second where he was seriously considering whether or not it would be worth it to hit him and had determined that, considering he was in armor and Orange was not, it probably wouldn't hurt to start a fight, but before he could follow through on it Commander Offee stepped between them.

"Stop it, the both of you," she remarked sharply. "You are acting like fools. You, Sergeant, have no right to speak to a superior officer that way. And you, Commander, should know better than to start a fight."

Her words stung, and he hung his head in shame, muttering a quiet "Sorry, sir," under his breath. She was right. He should know better. What was worse, however, was that she thought he was acting like a fool. It wasn't that that she was entirely wrong, but the way she said it seemed to be part of some girl code for "you _are_ a fool" rather than "you are acting_ like_ a fool". It was very possible she was only speaking to the Sergeant when she said that, but the thought didn't cross Cody's mind until after he got some real sleep.

For the time being, he thought she meant only him in that girl code, though he shouldn't have assumed anything since he had zero to zilch experience with girls in the first place, much less their "secret codes" which they used to speak to each other clandestinely. So he made a promise that by the end of the mission he would have proved her wrong about his apparent foolishness and guaranteed that she knew he was usually more rational and levelheaded than he currently was acting.

By the time he had run this course of thoughts through to the end, they had arrived in the war room. It was equipped with all sorts of high-tech scanning devices and in-depth maps of the system and the requisite holoprojector, and every wall was covered with more gadgets than a dozen Swiss army knives besides. Even in his embarrassed state, Cody couldn't help but be impressed by the display of technology.

The lieutenant made an audible gasp, causing Orange to smile slickly. "We have the latest in scanning, searching, audio, video, and defense technology. And if you would like, Lieutenant, maybe later I could show you around the armory? I'm pretty sure we have some new vibroblades down there. You could try them out, if you like."

Bluebird smiled, but there was something funny about it. "I would like that, Sergeant. Maybe one of the commanders or my general would also be interested?"

Sergeant Orange's suddenly downcast expression made Cody realize what he was doing. He contemplated warning the lieutenant, but something about the way she invited them made him think that she could take care of herself, and he was still pretty tired.

Now an officer in uniform walked up to them. "Sergeant, you are dismissed," he said in a low, gravelly voice before turning and saluting the Jedi. "General Swiftwater, Commander Offee, welcome aboard. I am Admiral Jensen, of Evanescent Base."

They gave the customary Jedi bow, and then the general greeted, "Admiral, I want to thank you for providing your sh—base for our use. This is Commander Cody of the 212th Attack Battalion and Lieutenant Bluebird, my right hand's right hand."

"Sir," saluted Cody.

"Sir," began Bluebird with a salute, "you have a very remarkable base here. If time permitted I would love to stay here and look over its weapons and defense systems. Sir."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Unfortunately we have little time for such exploits." He plodded over to the holoprojector and turned it on, revealing a map of the galaxy that focused in on one system. "This is the Tanyar system. The only inhabited planet—Tanyar—orbits in a figure-eight around its two suns, Tanyar A and Tanyar B. We have received intelligence from local law enforcement officers that claims the Eastern Hemisphere has some kind of Separatist base hidden there. Tanyar is not officially aligned with either side of the war, but for a long time they have kept up trade with the Republic, and we believe that by investigating this rumor and either coming back with solid evidence that it is not there or finding the base and destroying it, we can get them on our side.

"A small strike team will be investigating the Eastern Hemisphere while the rest of your men stay here. We will be in orbit around Tanyar A, since the planet is currently on the far side of Tanyar B. If this strike team finds anything at all, they report it to us, and we send the intelligence to Tanyar's government. We then follow their wishes, and leave when they ask us to. When the mission is finished, your unit will get out of our hangar and, upon threat of court marshal, will never breathe a word about this base to anyone. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

The general nodded. "I will inform my men of this condition. Is that all, Admiral? As you can probably imagine, we are all very tired, so if you would be so kind as to dismiss us, it would be greatly appreciated."

Admiral Jensen licked his fat lips and turned away, effectively but rudely dismissing them.

Just as they left the war room, Lieutenant Bluebird remarked, "Well, he didn't seem too happy to see us."

* * *

Ta-da! Chapter drei ist hier!

If I'm not mistaken, this chapter is longer than just about all of my others, and that's because I thought if I saved them getting their mission for the next chapter the story would just start stretching on forever, and that would be very annoying. And then I added in the very OOC Sergeant Orange.

Thanks go to natcat13 again for the mission, darthritter86 for his reviews, Aurora Lunar 0Love This0 for inspiration, and to all you lovely reviewers out there!

Don't expect an update anytime soon, practice for pit orchestra of my school's Phantom production begin on Monday, so I'll be busy, again! December=crazy!

A question to all of you readers to prompt more reviews: What did you think of Patch? and would you like to find out what happens to Bluebird when Orange gives her a tour of the weapons storage? (Don't worry, it's not as bad as you might think, I'm not going to include any...you know...yeah.)

Happy New Year!  
shakespeareaddict


End file.
